Scots/Scotch (was: Kozak/Cossack)

[E Wayles Browne]

This is, of course, a Slavic discussion list, but there is a similar
case of competing terms in the English language, which it might be
instructive to consider.

A traditional term for a person from Scotland is Scotch (pl. and adj.),
Scotchman (masc. sg.). Many people from Scotland nowadays urge other
English-speakers to use Scots (pl. and adj)., Scot or Scotsman (masc. sg.),
and even say that Scotch is archaic except when applied to whiskey and
in some other fixed phrases.

It doesn't seem archaic to me. But one reason the people themselves might
 take exception to "Scotch(man)" is the traditional derogatory association
that other English-speakers have between Scotch people and stinginess.

Who, then, is to be master over English terminology? Shall I defer to
the preferences of a person who would rather be called a Scot or a
Scotsman, or shall I regard such deference as unnecessary political
correctness, and still refer to him as Scotch if I feel like it?
-- 
Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall 220, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu

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